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Saryusz-Wolski: The supremacy of EU law is not enshrined in the EU treaty

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Poland – In an interview given to the PAP press agency, and cited by the Polish press on 30 July, Polish MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (PiS) spoke out the predisposition of EU authorities to affirm the supremacy of EU law over national legislations and makes clear that “the supremacy of EU law is not enshrined in the EU treaty.”

The purported supremacy of EU law is challenged by 9 member states

“The issue is not that of the supremacy of EU law on national legislature or of national law over EU legislature.”

It is the issue of the supremacy of the constitutions of the member states over the laws of the EU, which is encompassed in Article 4 of the EU Treaty and stipulates that the EU respects the identity and constitutional structures of the member states.

It is an argument that the German constitutional court has always invoked”, he argues from the outset because, Poland is indeed not the only country that asserts the supremacy of national constitutional order over EU law. Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Romania and Lithuania do likewise.

“The European Union can only act within the limits of the powers that the member states bestow upon it in the different treaties”,

However, “the list of transferred powers is exhaustive.”

Euroracism

Mr. Saryusz-Wolski points out the way that the European Commission and the EU Court of Justice the “à la carte” way that these institutions apply their powers:

“…countries are treated differently. Some are permitted to do more whilst others are not authorised to do a single thing. “Euro-racism” is what I’d call it.”

“An example of this is the accusation of politicising the Polish state judicial council (KRS) whereas in a number of countries, including Germany, the politicising is much more important for it is politicians that directly appoint their judges. In Poland, it is done in an indirect way since it is the Sejm that designates the state judicial council and, based on its propositions, the judges are appointed by the President. Indeed, Spain uses the exact same processes.”

“Where is it written within the treaty that the European Commission is in charge of the administration of justice? Nowhere.”

Clearly marking the limits of EU and national jurisdictions

In order to solve this recurring problem, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski has proposed within a “report to the constitutional committee of the EU Parliament for this conference to establish a control and monitor procedure to mark the limits of EU and national jurisdictions by appointing a new subsidiary chamber to the EUCJ…” before adding that

“A strong political alliance must be found in order to stop this process.”